Childhood Obesity Causes and Best Prevention Steps

In general, most Americans are getting fatter by the day and most do not even realize it until it is too late.

Your clothes can only hide but so much extra weight, for it is one of the simple ways to know you’re put on too much weight.

This article will be addressing the exploding bad teen obesity statistics all around the world but especially in America (the land of the free, brave and too much fast food).

What is Child Obesity?

What is childhood obesity? The definition is more complex than most realize. A simple definition will be when a child or teen is way above the appropriate weight for his or her age.

You can tell if a teen is overweight with protruding stomach, fatty cheeks and sometimes health woes like those found in obese adults.

The causes of childhood obesity in America are similar to what creates the same condition in adults.

What used to be called teen growing fat is no more the case. It is also true that most obese parents create the same condition in their kids.

Take a trip to your local supermarket and you’ll see what I mean. Rarely have I seen an obese child without obese parents.

What Causes Childhood Obesity?

While there are many child obesity causes one can point to, the main ones are inactivity, dietary patterns, lack of portion control and the environment.

The exploding teen obesity in the United States can also be blamed on poor education and skills, physical activity environment, and the constant bombardment of food promotion and marketing.

Let’s look closely at the causes of obesity in children one by one.

Poor Behavior

I am always surprised that our schools do not take the time to teach kids about nutrition benefits. Is it by design or chance of omission?

When kids lack the knowledge to differentiate the difference in calories and how to count them, the weight gain will not be recognized until it is too late.

I put the blame on parents and our school system bent on creating kids hooked on certain types of foods that have been linked to the obesity problems in America.

Bad Foods

Most adults and kids are not even aware what bad foods are. In a nutshell, any type of food that makes you tired and lacking in energy is bad for you.

It is also a fact that fast food and childhood obesity problems are linked in more ways than one. A nourishing meal should make you fulfilled and not tired or just sleepy.

If you find yourself drinking highly sweetened drinks, then chances are you’re probably obese. It is a shame most teens do not drink enough water.

Most of the packaged drinks provided in schools and sold all across America contribute immensely to the obesity problem among our teenagers.

Lack of Physical Activities

The prevalence of digital devices has contributed to the obesity problem in America in more ways than one.

Most kids rarely get enough exercise on a daily basis. It is simple math, if you take in more calories than you use, you’ll gain weight in all the wrong places.

Most schools do not even have physical exercise programs or what most will offer is substantially inadequate.

Subliminal Messages in Food Advertisement

If you do not know what subliminal messages are, then your life is been controlled in more ways than one.

Every commercial you see on television has an effect on everyone watching it. The messages are known to work without you the viewer being conscious of it.

The messages delivered will be embedded into your subconscious mind to be triggered on a later basis.

That is why you have the need to buy certain food items without knowing why. Once it intrudes into your mind, your behavior will be automatic as if you’re in control.

Subliminal messages are more deadly than guns, simply because they rob you of your thinking power without you knowing or been aware of it.

This is the same method used to sell us any politician they want to put in power. In my opinion, it is the key reason why American teenagers are getting fatter by the minute.

The Consequences of Childhood Obesity

The consequences of obesity cannot be measured with just one stat. The health risks now associated with obesity is growing on a daily basis.

Obesity in children creates so many health woes, not to talk about the harmful effects it has on the growing teen’s image and self-confidence.

Obese children have increased chances of high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Children that are obese rarely get the right amount of high-quality sleep or they sleep too much. Most will wake up very tired and lacking the right energy to absorb any education materials.

Prolonged obesity eventually leads to very low self-esteem, bad behavior issues and sometimes poor grades.

Recent studies have shown the negative impact teen obesity has on physical, social and emotional functioning.

It is also true that most obese kids will become obese adults with all the health woes multiplied.

Ways to Prevent Childhood Obesity

There are many ways to prevent childhood obesity, but it requires the right action from the parents for it to succeed.

It is even truer if both parents and kid are obese. The following child obesity prevention tips will only work with constant vigilance and best healthy actions from the parent.

Prepare Better Foods

While there are different types of foods, the bad ones are mostly the sweetened food stuff. Do you know that over 85% of our food supply contains some form of sweetener?

The sweetener might be listed using different names. The key step to stop gaining weight is to stop eating packaged foods.

As a parent, you must make time to learn how to make home cooked meals that are not derived from the can or packaged box.

You have to start feeding your little one more leafy green vegetable and fresh fruits.

While you can make all the excuses why you cannot prepare the right healthy food for your kid, the coming health woes associated with obesity will not care about your reasons.

The food you eat and feed your family should be looked at carefully or you just might be creating the right condition for all types of health maladies to emerge within the body.

Get Physically Active

One of the best ways to prevent childhood obesity is to engage in more physical activities on a daily basis.

Playing on a digital device is not exercising; neither will your teen burn many calories by playing video games or video chatting for many hours.

Introduce your little one to the joys of bike riding, playing basketball, playing soccer, playing table tennis, swimming, and many others.

Kids tend to mimic their parents and if mom and dad are active, your kid most likely will be. I am sure you can come up with other activities to burn calories.

When was the last time you walked a mile or two with your teenagers? It is a good way to burn many calories and should be done several times on a weekly basis.

Learn about Food Ingredients and Calories

You have to take the time to learn about ingredients and calories. The information is within your fingertips, but you’ll have to seek it from the many search engines found online.

You can now find out the effects of many ingredients included in your favorite food. If you eat without thinking about what is included in your food, then you cannot blame the manufacturer for your health woes.

The included ingredients are listed on the packaging and it is incumbent upon you to learn the effects or what they’ll do to your body once consumed.

To help curtail teen obesity and institute better childhood obesity prevention steps, learning about the positive and negative effects of ingredients will only help.

Conclusion:

I could go on and on as to the best ways to prevent obesity, but some of the listed facts above should get your imagination flowing the right way if adopted right away.

The solutions to childhood obesity can be found in abundance online, but it is what you do with the information that matters.

The listed solutions for obesity in teenagers will only work if you take the steps to get started now.